Sharp Scissors (Tight Stitches' sequel)
by Hoehomi-Chan
Summary: Poor Mabel doesn't know what to think when her entire life is turned upside down after the marriage of Tom and Sable, their move to Inwreath, and all that there is to follow. As time wears on and the happy couple couldn't be- well, happier, Mabel is left behind. Just as the fates begin to turn, her deepest wish becomes a dark reality, and a vengeful figure rises from Sable's past.
1. Prologue i

_Revenge is odd._

_Not only do you never benefit from it, it doesn't change the thing you wanted in the first place. Revenge is nothing but a monster clawing from inside of you, to keep you headstrong and in power. To make you feel better._

_And that is what I swore._

_Infuriated, angry, consumed by hate..._

_The words seemed so meaningless as I tipped the table over and cried out, unleashing my wrath on the room that lay around me._

Her _room._

_I gave her everything. I would've given her everything. But no, she couldn't accept anything but her own worthless idealism. Her own perfect future that was all but non existent. I wanted to slap her, hit her, hurt her. But I also wanted to hold her in my arms and have her love me back._

_My heart ached, but that passion burned within me just the same._

_Revenge._

_I stood up straight, panting, watching as tiny beads of blood rose up in a thin cut over my wrist where I had caught it on a nail. I couldn't let something like this go unpunished. How dare she treat me, the man who gave her a home; a life; a job...like a useless idiot? And then she had the nerve to send me an invatation to her God damn wedding! How shallow, and how low was that- asking me to come somewhere to watch her be happy with someone else?_

_It wasn't like me to not retaliate._

_And I would not take this lying down._


	2. Prologue ii

_An envy._

_I'm not even sure where it came from. Just one day...when I saw them so happy...it just manifested out of no where, and it continues to grow every day. I feel like...like...oh, what's the expression? _

_The third wheel._

_When she cried, I cried too._

_When she laughed, I laughed along._

_When she was excited, I screamed in delight._

_For so long we were connected, but when her babies were conceived I couldn't help but feel that...we weren't as close. A rift began to grow- and although small at the time, it didn't go away._

_When the proposal came I felt this rift yawn open, and as time wore on it just got worse and worse. She didn't need me as much anymore. That was apparent. She had her husband, her children- I was just her younger sister, too old to be treated as another child, but too young to live by herself. It was depressing to be this way. Someone in the way of things, someone blocking her happiness._

_In no way did I want her to be unhappy, I wouldn't dare wish that upon anyone._

_I just...wanted to be as happy as her._

_Why did that seem so sinful?_

**((I finished the first chapter two nights ago, saved it, switched my computer back on the next day and oh! The entire thing is gone. -_- All 4,000 words. Just wonderful.))**


	3. Mabel

**Mabel**

I could hear Clarable or Fable screaming in the next room over, and I cracked an eye open blearily as the shrill screech echoed in our small apartment. Rustles and soft thuds resounded from across the hall, before the scrape of a door and the _step-shuffle, step-shuffle_ of Sable's slippers as she went to her daughter's aid.

I threw the duvet back over my head, attempting to catch the remnants of sleep dancing upon my eyelids for an extra ten minutes. No use- I was awake now. I poked my head out of the top of the covers and listened to the hum of my sister's voice as she passed my door, _step-shuffle, step-shuffle, _to the kitchen, and the rattle of the changing table as she pulled it out.

It was only just light- perhaps half six, nearly seven in the morning, and a soft shard of light lay on my floor from the crevice in the curtains. I swung my feet off my bed and went to draw them back, pausing a moment to admire the wonderful houses lined up in organised two-by-two rows in the Happy Home Showcase. They were amazingly decadent and unique, ranging from soft pastel pink walls to old fahioned, shabby doors. I liked to imagine which one I'd choose- the chalky blue one, with the slate roof and white washed door. No, perhaps the white and brown one, or maybe the yellow one, as bright and as sunny as morning itself.

Playing games like this in my head had been something I was growing accustomed to nowadays. I'd always like fantasy worlds and fairy stories- something Sable actively encouraged when I was seven or eight to keep me out of the way whilst she was sewing or dealing with a customer. I had stopped charging around with a blue blanket draped over my shoulders pretending to be Super-Stitch (a hero of my own creation, who could make clothes and sell them in double-quick time so her alter ego's sister had time to play with her), of course, but the pretend games didn't go away.

In fact, I think they started up again when Sable got pregnant.

I had seen her and Tom's relationship as nothing but budding flirtation before, but when she told me she was pregnant, everything quickly became all too real and frightening. And all those months after, when I struggled to run a shop myself and the world just seems so huge and incommodius, overwhelming and just...scary. So when I laid down my head at night, after pining for Sable, trembling in fear of the troubles the next day would face, I would close my eyes and fantasize all my troubles away.

At first I would pretend that Tom never existed, and Sable never fell into the dark depression for that half-year of missing him. Together, we made our fortune and spent the remainder of our days in pure bliss. But then...so quickly, so suddenly...I imagined myself as Sable, in her place. I imagined Tom loving _me. _I imagined carrying _his _baby. I imagined it all...and though it felt so wrong, on so many levels...I kind of...liked it.

My stomach would turn every time I thought of this, and though I hated to admit it, this feeling was- undeniable- jealousy. _I _wanted a lover. _I _wanted to experience the love Sable had, and feel what she felt. Perhaps not the part with being seperated for six years and then the whole pregnancy issue. But I wanted to love someone, someone who wasn't part of my family, so strongly I wanted to...

I shook my head, trying to escape my reverie. I was sixteen. I had plenty of time to have boyfriends, much more to get married and have children...

Yet as I caught my eye in the mirror across the room, with my furrowed brow making soft creases in my forehead, I didn't seem so sure.

Occasionally I would stare at Sable as she laughed or picked up one of her daughters just to hug them. I wondered what made her so happy. Her life was so full of aphotic undetones- so why wasn't she constantly gloomy?

Why couldn't I be as positive?

I had no reason to be sad. Sable had come back, she had saved both our lives single-handedly. Yet as the days wore on I felt something remniscent of being glum, and the feeling only seemed to worsen the closer we got to the wedding. Watching them demurely holding paws during the ceremony, their laughter at Nitch's antics, the breathtaking beauty of their first dance during the reception...and those noises I had heard that night. I wasn't a fool. The walls of our old shop were only thin. Months back, they would've made me laugh. But instead I wanted to cry.

It made me envious. So despicably envious I wished I could escape it all. But I couldn't. Sable deserved her happiness. I still had time to find mine- so I should be happier, right?

...right?

...

"Mabel, you busy?" Sable said, looking up from the sink. I placed my claw tip on the line of the paper I was reading and met her gaze.

"No. Why?"

"Can you do me a favour? I was wondering if you wanted to go down to the shop and start clearing away some of the boxes. We really need to open that shop soon." She turned back to the kitchen window, placing the soap-slick plate she had been holding on the drying rack. "Uh, it's been nearly two weeks since we moved in and the Able Sisters still isn't ready for buisness. Tom's been open for a week."

"I know," I folded the paper over in half and leant on the table. "But sure, I'll do it."

"Thanks...I'll come give you a hand if I'm not too busy. After I'm done with the dishes I need to put on an extra load of laundry...oh, and then Clarable and Fable need to be put down for a nap. Let's see, what else do I have to do today...?"

"I'll be OK, Sable. Really, you just spend today at home and finish your chores."

Sable gave me a weak smile as I stood up obligingly. "I didn't realise Tom expected me to do all the housework when I married him," she said jokingly. She ran a soapy paw through her spines, leaving a foamy white residue on her head. "Anyway, just poke your head around the twins' door before you leave. I don't think Clarable's taken too kindly to the play pen we put them in,"

"OK, will do," I called back, knocking the kitchen door to as I stepped into the hallway.

The kitchen was at the very end of the corridor connecting all of our rooms together. The stairs led down to Tom's shop, and on either side of the walls two doors each led off into a bathroom, Tom and Sable's room, and on the other side, the twins' and my room. It was bigger than our old flat above the Able Sisters, but it wasn't exactly huge. My room was roughly the same size as the old one- but I had so much more furniture than ever before now. Apparently Tom's inheritance had been generous to buy us these shops units, kit them out _and _pay for the wedding.

I poked my head through the twin's door (which had been decorated in crayon shades of pink, much to Sable's disdain), to see Fable gripping onto the bars of the play pen and standing shakily on her unsteady feet. Clarable was chewing determindly on a plastic toy, but when I opened the door, her eyes lit up and she pointed at me curiously.

"Mama?" she said, like a question.

"No, Clarable, it's me, your Auntie Mabel," I chided. "Go on, say Auntie Mabel."

"Ant-Mab?" she repeated. They had been calling me 'Ant Mab' for a while now- before it had just been 'Ma' but slowly they were getting the hang of my name. It was quite funny, really, to visit them and get an endearing attempt of correctly identifying me.

"Ehhh, needs work," I walked up to the play pen and crouched down and gently poked Clarable in the stomach teasingly. "And who's this?"

"Clah-rah!" she squealed and clapped her pudgy little paws together in joy as I patted her on her head affectionately.

"Close enough, sweetie." I chuckled.

"Ant-Mab," Fable gurgled as I turned to her, holding out her paws, straining to be picked up. As she released the bars, her legs quivered, and now unbalanced she toppled over and landed backwards with a thud.

"Hi Fable. You OK?" I offered her a paw from the other side of the play pen and she grabbed it with both hands as if she were going to chew on it. "Hey, no kisses? You give Mama kisses! Aren't there any left for me?"

She looked at my face whilst I spoke, before looking at my paw again. Slowly, she leaned forwards and planted a wet, very drooly kiss on the back of my hand obediently. I pulled a face as she withdrew and a long string of saliva stuck to her lips and my hand.

"Gee, thanks Fable," I said, grimacing jokingly as she laughed, giving me a bright, sunny smile in response as I wiped her mouth with the corner of my sleeve. They were so sweet, always so happy to see me. I had done a lot of babysitting these past few months while Sable sewed or planned her wedding, and I'd officially become the twin's playmate. They'd drop things in my lap and squeal for my attention when I walked past. It was fun, to have two people who looked up for you and pined for your attention. Especially when I felt isolated from my own sister.

But then when I saw them with their parents it often made me much more dejected than tormenting myself with my own thoughts. For hours after I'd push them away, no matter how much they called for 'Ant Mab' or dropped toys in my lap. They didn't always need me. I was replaceable, easily.

Clarable rolled onto her front and crawled over to where I was crouched next to Fable. She reached out and tugged on my sleeve, very nearly making me overbalance, squealing. Clearly she wanted my attention on her, rather than her sister.

"Sorry Clarable, I'm going now," I informed her aplogetically. "Play with Fable and be good, OK?"

"Ant-Mab!" she shrieked in response. Her smooth forehead creased as I stood up. "Pa! Pa! Pa!"

She wanted me to play with her, clearly. I patted her on the head like an affectionate pet before slipping out of the room as quickly as I could. Just as the door clicked shut, the drone of a cry started up, and no sooner had I stepped away Sable came flying down the corridor, her paws still white and streaming with soap suds.

"What's she crying for now?" she exclaimed, catching my eye incredulously before she went into their bedroom.

"They want me to play," I replied. "I don't know, maybe Clarable's just relishing the attention."

I paused as Sable scooped her daughter up and bounced her around on her hip, shushing her gently.

"Do you want me to stay and baby sit them?"

"Hm? Oh...um...if you could, that would be great...oh, but then there's the store! That needs to be cleaned. Wait, but I can't keep an eye on these...oh, damn, there's too much to do." Sable looked up from a now grizzling Clarable and eyed me doubtfully. "Which is more important?"

I shrugged helplessly. How was I to know? The store itself was our family buisness- I had lived amongst it my whole life. It _was _my whole life. Yet that seemed to have changed so much over the past few months. It was almost as important to me as my family itself, because it was in my family. I hadn't let Sable know, but the Able sisters was important to me in a way I never let show. Not working for the past month or so had been tough- but I couldn't expect Sable to see things that way. How could she put anything over her daughters in importance? Besides, she wasn't technically an Able sister anymore.

I internally slapped myself as those thoughts danced across my mind. How could I say something so cruel? Something so heartless and insensitive? Just because Sable was married now didn't change the fact she was my sister. Just because she went by 'Mrs Nook' didn't mean she wasn't part of the Ables any more. It was horribly unfair to her that I thought that- it was almost frightening that I could conjure up a thought like that.

My stomach squeezed painfully as I opened my mouth, a sickly sweet grin playing on my lips. "I'll keep an eye on them if that's what you want. They're more important after all,"

Sable's gaze softened as she glanced down at Fable in the play pen, clamouring, "Up! Up! Mama! Up!" and Clarable nestling into her chest like she was a newborn again.

"Aren't they just," she mumbled, dropping to her knees to run her paw through Fable's spines. "No, Clarable, don't touch mummy's locket."

I watched as she eased the golden pendant from Clarable's paws and swung the necklace over her shoulder out of her reach. She had worn that pendant since Tom proposed. I'd never seen her without out. Not once.

"Thank you, Mabel," Sable added as she placed Clarable back in the play pen with a kiss on the head and the introduction of a new toy. "That's incredibly sweet of you to say, but I think I can manage. You can go work on the store. If, of course that's what you want."

"Oh, yes!" I said, almost too eagerly as Sable led me back down the corridor and plucked a key off of its hook in the kitchen.

"The key works in both doors," she informed me. "There's two rooms, the smaller one is going to be a store room and the bigger one is going to be the shop floor. Tom says he's laid it out exactly how our old one was- oh, but don't go upstairs, we don't own that part of the building. Apparently its been reserved by someone from the city, there's just repairs going on at the moment on the roof. Thank fully it doesn't affect our shop." she smiled as she handed me the key. "Just be careful."

"I will, don't worry," I laughed as I pocketed it. "It's thirty metres down the lane, I'll be fine."

She smiled weakly at me. "Who knows, though," she added thoughtfully. "If you make good progress, we might be able to open tomorrow."

...

An hour later, I _had_ made good progress.

Other than the fact clouds of dust still billowed up from the floor everytime I moved something and opening the door and windows didn't seem to help, I had emptied seven out of twelve boxes and I was half way through the contents of the eighth. So far, all of our mannequins were set out in their places, and now I was dressing them in Sable's new clothes she had made within the past few months. I stroked each seam gently as I buttoned up a top or smoothed down a skirt. She'd improved so much, from making just shirts and dresses, she had progressed to sewing things like trousers and jackets and corsets with just as much ease.

I bit back a laugh as I uncovered one of my attempts at a simple skirt from one box. Its seams were riddles with holes and my hems went up and down as if I were attempting to recreate ocean waves. Against Sable's superior garments, mine looked like a joke. No wonder I had been on the brink of closing the Able Sisters.

I hauled Sable's sewing machine out of the ninth box, placing it on the counter space towards the back of the shop. Dust flew from its surfaces and I coughed as it clouded my face, grey cotton settling on my clothes. I put my paw in my sleeve and wiped it down, leaving a fluffy residue that I brushed away. I loved Sable's machine. I had always associated it with magic and wonder, ever since I was little. How else could she put a plain piece of cloth into it, and within an hour extract a perfectly constructed shirt? Even as I got older, the nostalgia from the wonder it once held still remained, and it made me smile.

I remember Sable getting it for her fourteenth birthday, a couple of months before our parents died. She had been so excited, clapping her paws together in delight, her earnest expression as our father showed her how to use it. I remember as I got a little older sitting on her lap, holding down a piece of scrap fabric as Sable guided my paws around the machine, and slowly, we made a rather questionable rag doll.

I wondered if I still had that old thing. We had made it, I carted it around for a few days, and then it got thrown in a drawer somewhere. Maybe we threw it away, along with all our old pictures and scribblings Sable used to help me make...

My paw stiffened into a fist on the machine as I remembered this. She always found time after work, always, or in the quiet hours of the morning or late afternoon, she'd lay out a sheet of paper and we'd throw paint at it, or we'd draw, or she'd help me read a book. She'd obediently sit and let me comb her hair in a mock game of hairdressing, or growl and chase me round the apartment like a grizzly bear hungrily chasing me, the intrepid explorer. Our parents had died by then, and she never seemed sobered by that fact.

It wasn't untill...

She met Tom.

Our games stopped. Working started. By the time I was ten or eleven I would help in the shop by selling and talking to the customers as Sable sewed. No matter how many times I laid out the paper and paints, regardless of how many books I pressed into her lap or held up the combs and brushes, she wouldn't play. She'd rush around, fix up a babysitter for me, and go see her boyfriend.

My heart was stinging as I ground my teeth in silent frustration. How could she do that? How could she think I never cared?

I could feel my heart racing, just as my arm whipped back in the anticipation to fling something across the room before I stopped and realised what I was doing.

I was holding Sable's pin cushion in my paw, completely devoid of pins which I had knocked off the counter with my elbow onto the floor. Colourful beaded heads now littered the floorboards and I dropped to my knees to pick them up.

I shouldn't be mad at Sable. It wasn't her fault. She deserved her own time, to do her own things. She shouldn't have to play with her little sister every single day- she couldn't sacrifice her own happiness for mine all the time.

_But she's the one who's married. She's the one with kids. She's the one who loves her life and everything in it. She's happy now, she didn't have to be back then, did she?_

I was speaking nonsense. Thinking logically, no one could bear to be unhappy, even for a short period of time, even if happiness was guranteed in the future.

So in what position was I?

...

I opened the door to Tom's shop and miserably trailed past the foam-constructed home exteriors to the staircase at the back. I had made remarkably _little _progress after that whole episode so I gave up and called it quits. I didn't want to be the unhappy one. I wanted to be happy _now. _It hardly seemed fair to live amongst people practically oozing bliss, living in their own euphoria that I had to be part of, regardless of how sour I felt.

As I got to the top of the stairs, the clamour that had been muted in the shop below was apparent as I heard Tom announce grandly, "It's lovely, yes?"

"Oh, I love it." Sable exclaimed. The floorboards creaked loudly as I placed one foot on the landing, and Sable popped her head round the kitchen door at the other end of the hall. "Oh, welcome back, Mabel. Come see what the photograhpher sent us from the wedding!"

My curiousity initially peaked, but at the mention of the word 'wedding', a glum onset darkened inside. I set my jaw in a sickly grin and walked into the kitchen to see what all the fuss was about.

A canvas print of Tom and Sable by the waterfall on their wedding day met my gaze as soon as I walked in. Their lips were pressed together, and one each held a twin on each hip who were smiling up at their parents like angelic cherubs.

The portrait was perfect. It was beautiful. A lovely photo. It looked like it belonged in a gallery rather than hung over the kitchen table.

"Oh, it's my favourite photo ever." Sable gushed. She leaned into Tom as he put his arm around her in an embrace, before she spoke reverently. "Our family,"

So Sable's favourite picture was of her family.

Shame I wasn't in it.

...

**OHHHH THIS HAS BEEN A LONG TIME COMING I AM SO SORRY PLEASE FORGIVE ME V.V**

**Anyhoo...first chapter of SS! What do you think? Brand new story, and I admit this chapter can kind of be interpreted as a filler, but it needs to set the ground work for the rest of this story...so yeah!**

**Those of you who have come from reading TS, welcome back, and thanks for making it this far! I'm not expecting this story to get as much love as TS, so thanks if you continue reading!**

**Anyhoo, I get my laptop charger next week, so updates (hopefully) will become regular once again.**

**And since I don't think my anon reviewer writing their story in my comments didn't get my message in my last AN, I'll repost it here.**

A quick message to my anon reviewer **set**. Please don't write your story in the comments of my stories! If you want to write a fanfiction, make your own account or please do it elsewhere, otherwise its just spam. I'm sorry, this sounds really rude but it's not allowed on to review with spam. Also, I'd appreciate it if you asked me next time you wanted to write a sequel to one of my stories, because it was my original idea and I don't appreciate people writing the same thing. So..yeah. Thank you.

**But see you soon! Keep Sewing!**


	4. Sable

**Sable**

"I finished what I could in the store, all that's left is your stuff."

"OK," I smiled warmly at Mabel, a feeling of relief washing over my chest. "I'll unpack it tomorrow, then. Thanks for that, Mabel,"

She grinned in return before casting one last glance at the canvas print before spinning on her heel and retreating into her room. The door didn't exactly slam, but the click of the handle as it closed resounded throughout our flat like a final note.

I leaned into Tom's chest with a sigh as he stroked my shoulder.

"Poor Mabel. The move's been hard on her, hasn't it?" I said.

"Yes, it would seem so." he replied. I looked up to see he was still staring intently at the photo we had spent the last twenty minutes hooking onto the wall. "It's abnormal for her, yes?"

"I guess that makes sense," I agreed. "After all, she hasn't known much more than our old shop back in Wenton,"

I blew out a long stream of breath and straightened up, running a paw through my spines. I knew we had been somewhat self-centered the past few months, what, with the wedding and all, and Mabel didn't even get a say into whether or not we should've moved. Regardless, I hoped desperately it was just mid-March blues and nothing serious was weighing on her mind. I inwardly laughed. Mabel always made the best of every situation- it would take a tragedy to shatter her optimistic outlook.

"So when do you plan to open?" Tom asked as I ducked away from his arm to unload the washing machine blinking its rapid green light at me.

I pulled a face. "Oh, God knows when. If Mabel hadn't gone down to the store and cleaned up today I doubt it would ever get done."

"Housewife not all it's cracked up to be?"

"Don't you know it," I hot him a scornful gaze from across the room as I opened the tumble dryer. "It would help, you know, if you did a load of laundry or washed the dishes after dinner once every so often,"

He held up his paws in mock defeat, chuckling as he leant against the kitchen table. "Whatever you say, Mrs Nook,"

I instantly softened as he mentioned my new name. As cliche as it sounded, everytime I was reminded we belonged to one another, united in a family name, it spread a wonderful sense of satisfaction and...I guess you would call it adoration throughout me. It was as if all the worries, all of the pain, the misunderstanding, and all those tears wept had been swept away from those nine months we were seperated. Now, after our wedding day, and that magical night that followed...life was, near enough, perfect.

At least in that sense.

In the literal sense, the kettle was whistling at me from the stove, the dishwasher was beeping indicating its need for emptying, and I could hear one of my daughters starting to whimper from down the hall.

"Please go see what they want," I said, wincing at the shriek that resounded from the twins' bedroom. I reached over and flipped the kettle off and sighed, passing a paw over my face as Tom left the room. It wasn't exactly stress free, our current lifestyle. But I was grateful, because in comparison to those dark nine months I spent absorbed in my own loneliness, I was living in a blissful Eden.

...

"Hello, sewing machine," I said brightly as I sat down at the worktable in our new shop. "It's been while, hasn't it?"

Mabel chuckled from the other side of the room. "Isn't that the truth. What was the last piece you actually made?"

"Good question," I screwed up my eyes in thought as I reached for a bobbin. "Uhh...probably your bridesmaid dress." At this I cast a furtive glance at the locket resting on my chest, a small smile dancing on my lips.

When I didn't get a response, I looked up from the pendant over at where Mabel was sat on the store room's floor. Clarable was sitting in the 'v' her legs made, shaking a brightly coloured plastic assortment of keys, and Fable was using her Aunt's arm to stabilise her as she stood on shaky feet, tiny ankles wobbling. Mabel was staring at her niece on the floor with a small frown etched into her brow, looking troubled. Her eyes were vague as if her thoughts were lying elsewhere.

I opened my mouth to speak, a frown of my own wrinkling my own forehead, then hesitated. I didn't really know what to say. 'What's with the face' seemed a bit harsh, and 'what's wrong?' sounded insensitive.

Fable gave Mabel's sleeve a fierce tug, wrenching her own fists away from the fabric, leaving her standing by herself for a split second before her over-sized body rendered incapable of standing alone and lurched towards the floor.

"Oopsy-daisy," Mabel exclaimed, scooping her up before she could go over. She hauled her up from under her arms, her unreadable expression gone. As if it had never existed. Instead, she looked up at me with her normal, bright, sunny grin. "Did you see her, Sable? She nearly stood up by herself, didn't she?"

"Almost, bless her." I let a smile spread across my lips. I looked back at my sewing machine, newly cleaned that morning. It looked strange to see it lacking a bobbin, neglecting a thin train of thread trailing from the eye of the needle, without a swathe of fabric being fed into it. My scissors, pincushion, box of thread, and tailors chalk were lined up besides it with uniform precision. Not that it would last long- sewing wasn't exactly tidy buisness. "Right then," I coughed nervously. "Better get started."

I reached for a swathe of blue plaid cotton and my cardboard box of patterns, before Mabel stopped me.

"Wait," she said, standing up from where she was sat. Holding Fable on her hip, she maneveured around the empty boxes we had yet to throw away, and bent down to scoop something up from infront of my work table.

She handed me a folded square of red gingham, a small smile perking the corner of her lips.

"Don't forget this, sis."

I unfolded it and immediatly a smile spread across my face.

My work apron.

I had worked without it for months, so when I came home I had neglected to wear it because I never wore a uniform at Redd's. I hadn't worn it in nearly two years- ever since I got pregnant.

"Thanks, Mabel." I stuck my head through the loop and tied the ribbons up at the back. It smelt of musty storage rooms and tailors chalk. "Right then. To work I go."

Mabel went to put Fable down with her sister as I started up the sewing machine, and began dressing mannequins, fussing with a collar or playing with the sash of a dress. We had decided after Mabel's cleaning spree yesterday we might as well dive right in to opening our business. All we had to do was store a few pre-made clothes and run it over with a vacuum three or four times, so today was our first official day of being open. The only reasons it had been postponed was because of its original state of being overrun by boxes, the fact I had too many chores to catch up on, and my daughters needing someone to keep an eye on them.

Tom and I had discussed what we were going to do now that both our shops were operating full time- I couldn't let Mabel run the store by herself, and Tom could ill afford to abandon his shop, even if it just was for every other day. The only option was to keep them at work with us- so we agreed it best to have them on a rotary scale. No one would mind two eight months old idly playing in the corner whilst they browsed our stock, would they? After all, Tom's sister, Tallie, had come over and said they were adorable; the town hall secretary Isabelle had cooed over them for a good long while when she gave us the keys to our shops...it would be fine.

I laid down my scissors and put the cut-out pieces of the bodice I was about to start sewing under the presser foot of the machine to sew. Mabel jumped up and sat on the counter across from me, playing around with the shapes of a floral headdress she made. Although I couldn't see them, I could hear the quiet babbling of the twins from across the room as they played. It was peaceful. Tranquil. I was surrounded by three of the people I loved most in the world and I was doing what I knew I could do effortlessly.

My thoughts turned to the canvas that had come in last night once again. It kept springing to mind, and every time I paused in sewing or doing chores, my mind flickered back to it and all the happy memories with it.

Labelle would nag like crazy that my hips looked too big from the angle, or that my freckles were brought out by the sun- but it wasn't so much the photo I adored, but rather the story behind it. The work it had taken, the tears that had been wept, the long journey we had all been part of to achieve that happiness. For me, it represented that the suffering wasn't pointless, that despite the bad times; distrust, pain, fractured love...we overcame that. And now here we were. Happy, at long last. Our wedding was one of the best days of my life. Every single moment, from the frantic morning preperation, Labelle's fussing, the ceremony, the reception...that night.

I flushed and looked up from under my lashes to see if Mabel had noticed my sheepish expression, but no, she was fixing some hairclips to alligator clips with a needle and thread. My heart was thumping as I closed my eyes and remembered the feeling of his mouth against mine, his weight against my body...the immense relief being lifted from my chest as I let everything happen the way he dictated it. I felt filthy for thinking about it- but, I wasn't exactly unspoiled beforehand. I had been wondering if the same might happen again- and when Tom wasn't looking I would peer at my stomach or press a paw to it for any flicker of life. I doubted it would happen again so soon...but it was a little unnerving.

The bell at the door resounded, indicating a customer, and my eyes flew open. I hurriedly started sewing again, pushing these thoughts to the back of my mind for time when I was alone. Mabel leapt off the counter, reaching round to tie up the back of her apron as she cheerfully burst into greeting.

"Hey there! Welcome to the Able Sisters!" she said chirply.

"Hello there," a calmer voice replied. "It's nice to meet you, Miss-?"

"Oh...er...Mabel," Mabel replied. I wasn't looking up, but I could tell she was a little flustered at being called 'Miss'.

"And Miss...?" their soft voice followed a series of soft footsteps and I could feel their warm breath as they reached my side.

I looked up, surprised- to see a young woman, with light blonde hair curled into an officious bun at the back of her head. She wore a lacy tank top and jeans, with jewelled sandals muffling her footsteps. Her bright blue eyes were searching my face as she held our her hand for me to shake.

"Sable," I stammered. I reached out and shook her hand gingerly. "I mean...it would be Mrs, I think,"

"Oh, you must be Mr Nook's wife then. I spoke with him a few days ago to get some renovations done on my home. I'm the town's mayor, Tsuki. **(see AN)**" She gave me a dazzling smile. "I'm so glad you chose to move to Inwreath. I've become quite fond of it myself ever since I took up office. And oh my," she moved over to where Clarable and Fable were sat. "Who're these little darlings?"

"Clarable and Fable. My twins," I said, before ducking my head shyly. I didn't like her professional demeanor. She was all too friendly and forward...the type of person I never was sure how to act around.

"So is Mabel your eldest daughter?"

My stomach lurched at this as I looked up sharply to see Mabel wearing a similair stricken expression as she stared at the mayor.

"Uh..no. Mabel's my younger sister," I explained, smoothing out the fabric on my work table I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks, warming my face.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Tsuki said. Her tone remained the same. "I assumed you business was an independent family one, I apologise." She stood up straight, observed the clothes for sale with a prim nod, and drew herself up to her full height. "Well, I won't buy anything today, but I'll come again most definitely. Good bye,"

The door closed behind her like a finalising note and I breathed out shakily.

"Do I really look old enough to be your mother?" I asked, trying to catch my reflection in the blades of my scissors. I looked at my pale, ghostly face and lidded eyes- did they age me or something? Did I have that distinct, tired-as-hell motherly look about me that I had acquired in the first week of the twins' life?

"No, of course not," Mabel replied automatically. I looked up from my scissors to see her still staring blankly at the door where the mayor had left as if she was still in the process of leaving. Her eyes looked both shocked, and devoid of emotion at the same time.

"Is something wrong, Mabel?"

"No. No. I'm fine."

**YAYYY I FINISHED CHAPTER TWO *happy dance***

**OK, those of you who have played on ACNL with me will know that my mayor is called Tsuki :3 I threw her in there just cus I can. I thought it would be a cool kinda easter egg thing...speaking of which, I see people like Farore Grimm on ACNL all the time but your gate is never open and your never come through mine! The only people I play with are CanbySA and Seth :) I wanna play ACNL with some girls too! So let's share friend codes! *throws confetti* If I'm online, my gate is open. Kapische?**

**Anyhoo, because this is my story Labelle hasn't come to the new town (which is set in New Leaf, in case that isn't obvious) because I have plot stuffs that have to happen :P Remember, I do plan to write a third book in this series...so it makes sense that 1 focused on Sable, this one on Mabel, next one on Labelle...**

**Imma stop before I release spoilers.**

**My laptop is all fixed ~~~ :D Imma happy. Thank you so much for the praise, the reviews, and especially...your patientence with me. I'm finding it hard to write SS (I don't know why) so I kind of have to force myself because I. Can't. Let. You. Guys. Down.**

**I HAVE SEAMSTRESSES AND TAILORS NEEDING THIS STUFF**

**Anyhoo, I think I'm kind of crazy right now, so I'll go...thanks for reading!**

**Keep Sewing!**


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